User blog:Wiktionary28/Art Analysis - Hair and Eyes
Introduction So I decided to make a blog post on some things I've noticed about the way uru-chan draws hairstyles or eyes or the colours in relation to the characters. Bear in mind that I'm no artist, so I won't use technical art terms to describe anything. If anything, there'll be more literature terms or colour symbolism. Well then, let's get started, shall we? John Doe Ok, so a lot of people have noticed that in the super-powered world of unORDINARY, John is literally one of the only two people with normal hair and eye colours. Black hair and brown eyes are the most common hair/eye colours in our world, but what does this say about John? His 'ordinary appearance' is an excellent use of irony. In our world, John would look completely ordinary, but in his world, he is an outlier, an anomaly that doesn't fit in. The world of unORDINARY is a reversal of ours', a society similar to ours', but twisted and warped beyond recognition. Superheroes are scorned instead of admired by the populace and crazy ladies armed with explosives are always in the right. So John's extraordinary place in his world makes him the perfect POV character for the audience. Having been brought up by the man who wrote Unordinary, he has ideals and morals more like someone from our world and off the bat, it is easier to relate with him than someone like Seraphina or Arlo, who are basically demigods. But what about John's mysterious past and the hints that he was the King of New Bostin High ? It's probable and all but confirmed as of Chapter 41. In this case, his colour palette represents something else. Black is the colour of mystery, hiding, and secrecy. Even more fittingly, John's speech bubbles are plain white, unlike the other characters' colourful ones, but when he becomes angry they turn black. Fittingly, Isen comments in Chapter 40 that John is beginning to show his "true colours" and we see him speaking purely in black speech bubbles for the rest of the following episode. John's past had some kind of dirty or horrifying incident and now John is trying to cover up his "blackened" past with a "whitewashed" future. Another thing to note, although I don't know if this was just me. In recent chapters, it looks like John's eyes are transitioning from brown to golden as his true colours are becoming unveiled. This could be another example of John hiding his royal golden nature with peasant browns. Could this be a reference to him being a Royal in his last school? Seraphina, Ace of Wellston Initially, Seraphina seems to be the polar opposite of John: Powerful, unkempt, and female. However, the two are actually great friends and very close. When we witness Seraphina's past through the two "Flashback" arcs (First Day and Project Partners), we learn that originally, she was much more uptight and miserable. Her hair was monotone pink-purple and she had a long ponytail. Some point after meeting John and realising she didn't have to be perfect all the time, she got a makeover: she no longer wore her sweater or blazer, cut off her hair, dyed it yellow, and bought extensions. Pink-purple hair has been seen on three characters so far in canon (Leilah probably has pink-purple hair too) and all have been female: Seraphina, the school librarian, and Narisa, Seraphina's mother. Two of them are confirmed to have the extraordinarily powerful Time Manipulation ability. Purple is the colour of mysticism and magic. In a world with so much supernatural presence, Seraphina still manages to do things that are seemingly miraculous and divine to others with crazy powers like turning their skin into stone and shooting energy beams. The golden hair dye represents how she 'shed' her role of Queen and enhanced to Ace as gold is the colour of royalty and prestige. Cutting off her hair obviously had symbolic significance as well. In Asia, (I don't really know where uru-chan is based but I'm going to assume her art style draws inspiration from Japan and Korea, at the very least) a girl cutting off her hair meant she was being exiled or banished from her home. Although this doesn't happen at first, we see this happening in the form of Narisa's treatment of her when she arrives home. She has distanced herself from the toxic perfectionism of her upbringing, but it comes at the cost of her mother's disapproval and disappointment. In modern times, cutting one's hair represents a new start or starting afresh. This might be relevant too, given how Seraphina is detaching herself from her past as Wellston's Queen and is embracing her new life. Her hair extensions might represent her 'putting down roots' in her new life and her mother making her remove it shows how she wants her daughter to return to her old lifestyle. Arlo, King of Wellston Arlo is the other 'one of the only two people with normal hair and eye colours'. He has blonde hair and blue eyes, and while these are much rarer than black hair and brown eyes, they are actually a possible colour combination. In some ways, Arlo and John are similar. Both are extraordinary in a world of extraordinary people, neither follow the rules, and both are subjects of constant intrigue and gossip. The difference here is that while John is treated with contempt and disgust, Arlo is revered and feared. Yellow is the colour of royalty, power, and riches, and it's not difficult to see how this relates to Arlo, the King of the entire student body. Remi, Queen of Wellston When Seraphina decided that being Queen sucks, Remi got the job instead. As the second-most powerful female student in Wellston, she tries to maintain her status with dignity. However, she admits to her close friend *cough*love interest*cough* and confidant Blyke that she doesn't really feel like she is the Queen, because she only has the role due to Seraphina giving it to her. Seraphina and Remi have vaguely similar hair colours (ok not really but some readers mixed them up in the beginning). While Seraphina's hair is a deeper, more saturated purple, Remi's is a lighter peach-pink. Pink is a colour of femininity, love, and romance, but that isn't really relevant to this analysis. You could say that Remi looks like a less powerful Seraphina. Instead of true mysticism, she only possesses a watered-down version. However, she seems to bear the role of Queen much better than Seraphina did. Here, the pinks of her hair represent feminine strength, the strength that lies in a widow struggling to provide for her children or a mother lifting a car off her child. Pink also represents compassion, not just romantic love. Love for others, love for your neighbours, that kind of stuff. Remi is shown to be kind, like when she kneels down to help John pick up his fallen books. Unfortunately, she is just does not have as much raw power as Seraphina and cannot intervene in a fight between her and Arlo for fear of being injured or even killed in the crossfire. Blyke, Jack of Wellston Blyke has red hair and yellow eyes. Like with Arlo and Seraphina, the yellow represents his status as one of the Royalty of Wellston. Red, the colour of passion, anger, and fire, relate to Blyke's hot temper and violent nature, and in a more physical sense, his Energy Beam ability. Also, his hair sticks out in points and tufts, a bit like an actual fire. Category:Blog posts